captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- jamie: thank you. rick: we are live, right in the fox news room. this is where the news begins. this is the only show that takes you behind the scenes. here is a shot of the national desk. they are covering stories around the country. the foreign desk is in constant contact with our bureaus around the world. immediate test is where the pictures come into the newsroom. hear, the pictures will be on the right-hand side. in the top box, our failed system -- from the homeland secretary -- after a nigerian suspect makes it on board an airplane with a u.s. visa in his pocket and almost manages to blow up the airplane. now we are getting our first look at a suspect's blood shot.

what is being done to plug the holes in our security? -- suspect's mug shot. meanwhile, terror in tehran. protesters showing their disagreement with government leaders. in the bottom box, a tragedy in mississippi. nine people are dead including six children and a home burned down. jamie: first, more on the nigerian man charged with trying to destroy a u.s.-bound jet liner. janet napolitano is now saying the nation's airline to carry the system failed. this is a mug shot of the victim -- suspect. umar farouk abdulmutallab. u.s. marshals a purportedly took the picture on sunday. investigators are now looking

for a possible link between until much, and other operatives in yemen. -- between abdulmutallab and other operatives in yemen. catherine herridge, what is the latest? >> sources confirmed to us that -- what is described to us as a class of interest in the city connected to the suspect. more significantly, we are told cellphone-related material was recovered, including sim cards. that can help investigators figure out who they were talking to. it also paint a picture of the suspect's web of contacts. jamie: we have to look at the human connection. earlier reports were that the explosive was given to him in

yemen. what do we know about his activities in there? >> sources confirm to us that he was in yemen last year, early this year, several weeks, if not months. we are being told investigators believe he was radicalized before he went to yemen, and once there, he was vetted for the mission. it is not clear who was there and how he obtained equipment for the device, but that is being looked at now. jamie: there had been activity there. there was believed connection with nidal hasan. any connection between that radical cleric, anwar al-awlaki, and a suspect? >> anwar al-awlaki is, in fact,

an american citizen born in new mexico. he has been in exile in yemen where he has become a very vocal supporter of al qaeda and a spiritual adviser to many. he was the imam and that nidal hasan saw advice from a prior to his attack. we now know that in the case of this 23-year-old nigerian, he, too, was a follower of anwar al- awlaki. we have no information that they were directly in contact, but i cannot emphasize enough this connection to anwar al-awlaki. he is emerging as the face of the global and the hon. one analyst said today that he is, in many respects, the expert

on the west because he is an american citizen, uses the internet, posts in english, and his charismatic and well known in that part of the world. the jury is still out on his status. we were told at first that he was taken out in the strike, but now we just do not know any more. jamie: thank you, catherine. rick: president obama is about to make a for statement on this this afternoon around 3:00 this afternoon. the president has been on vacation with his family since before the attacks took place -- at least the attempted attacks. the national security team had been providing him with content updates on the investigation.

coming up, we will go to honolulu for a report from steve centanni. in the meantime, christmas day terror could spell trouble for the president's plan to close guantanamo bay, because the suspect, umar farouk abdulmutallab, reportedly spent some time in yemen, and may have gone the explosives there. now some lawmakers are questioning the administration's plan to send many of those prisoners home. wendell goler is in washington. who is raising questions about returning prisoners to yemen? >> michigan pump -- michigan congressman peter hoekstra says that sending any of the detainees to yemen is a bad idea. he says if he made a list of the

three worst countries to send gitmo detainee's back to, yemen would be on all of the lists. he was upset that earlier this month the administration said half a dozen detainees to yemen and says that he will redouble his efforts to close the facility. the officials were already saying that it may be 2011 before it is closed because of problems of the trial materials, how they were filed, difficulty in getting the countries to accept the detainees. just short of half of the detainees being held in guantanamo bay right now are from yemen, so it might be further delayed -- it may further delay the president's decision to close the facility. rick: what do we know about al qaeda ties to the country? >> of course, al qaeda was

started in yemen, the father of usama bin laden was born there. if you want to ask yourself how secure it is, by 2008, all of those individuals convicted in the cole bombing had escaped or had been released from jail. it is an ideal place to recruit islamic militants. it has a weak government that is fighting different factions within its own country. now there is a group threatening saudi oil fields. as we know from day attacks in nigeria, we know how believable new oil installations are from attack. jamie: amsterdam is now under

the microscope in the wake of this alleged terror plan. he was able to get past security there with explosives strapped to his body. it is the fourth largest airport in europe, in terms of passengers. it is a gateway to more than 92 countries. with a heavy load of travelers going to africa and asia, as well as north america, and they are looking to increase their security system. there is word that their system picked up the explosive, but no confirmation on whether they identified the suspect. what could have been done to prevent this? what are they saying? >> some of the dutch authorities are saying, just let us use the technology we have to, talking about that body scan thing. it scares people because of

privacy issues, but they said, had they been able to use that, umar farouk abdulmutallab would have been caught. so this obviously becomes an issue, although it looks like it is moving in the direction of using the technology. forget about some of the individual rights. some of them will have to be given up. jamie: i am told they have 15 of these machines and will use them randomly. we will talk later about whether the list that he was on should have caused them to put him through that security. how are the passengers reacting to the heightened security? >> there are 25 flights a day to the u.s., and today they are asking for 100% checks.

everyone is being frisked, as well as the carry-on luggage is being thoroughly checked. otherwise, traffic is normal. of course, it is still heavy season, and everyone seems to be used to it, but for the u.s.- bound flight, security has been heightened. rick: stain overseas, a bloodbath in pakistan. a powerful bomb blast tearing through a religious procession in the nation's largest city karachi. 25 people were killed, 50 wounded. this is a first look at the attacks. hundreds of muslims marching on one of the biggest holidays of the year. rebel fighters had killed hundreds across pakistan in recent weeks, thought to be retaliation for a major government crackdown.

jamie: a dozen people were injured after police moved in to break up religious processions in india and kashmir. you can see the violence. police using batons and tear gas to drive away the crowd. the protesters from stone taught them in return. police say shiite muslims were in violation of a band. rick: when we come back, it maybe the most unsettling aspect in the botched terror attack. why was a person on the terror watch list allowed to get on board an airplane and head to the u.s.? and eight years after 9/11, how security cannot seem to keep explosions off of an airplane.

and deadly riots gripping the iranian capital. security officers have been trying to crush the reform movement for about six months. can the western world do anything to help?

rick: welcome back. it is being called one of the worst fires in mississippi in awful long time. flames racing for an apartment complex not far from mississippi state university. nine people killed, and many are children, under the age of six. in the bottom box, the father who brought his son home back from brazil after a five-year custody battle said that his son is still not calling him dad, but is happy to be with him. in the bottom box, the holiday shopping season better than

expected for retailers. retail sales rose 3.6%. jamie: we continue to learn more about the 23-year-old man accused of trying to ignite his explosive on board northwest flight 253. there are still questions surrounding exactly why abdulmutallab was allowed on the flight. he had been placed on a terror watch list. not to mention his own father purportedly warned the u.s. embassy in nigeria about what his son might be planning. meantime, janet napolitano acknowledging today that the security system have failed. >> these rules have been in existence for a number of years. this individual was able to get on the airplane with that material, and that should not have happened. jamie: steward baker is a

former secretary for homeland security. thank you for being with us. and gen napolitano now says even though she said things were in order, there was a lapse into garroway and it should not have happened. what is the message she sends to terrorists when she says that the system is broken? >> i do not think this is anything that the terrorists do not know. they have been trying the same things for years now, using small amounts of powerful explosives in hands of a single individual that they are supposed to set off in a trans- atlantic flight. that is pretty much the system that al qaeda has used on three different kinds of attacks. there was the shoe bomber attack, the liquids, and now we have abdulmutallab with the

underwear attack. they are pretty much the same thing. they do not want to go through american immigration and customs with you where all of that information in the databases will be available and they will be pulled out and given a fairly strict screening. instead, they just want to go through the democratic screening that tsa makes. jamie: he had a visa that was about a year and a half old. i know it was not a no-fly watch list, but it was a terror watch lists. what does that say about the system of issuing visas? >> i think the process need to be looked at. one thing that could have been done is his visa being revoked,

and maybe he would not have gotten on that plane. when dhs was set up, they've given authority to set consular policy and security standards, in particular. yet, that is almost a dead letter between the state department and dhs. the state department does not really let dhs set policy for its officials. jamie: the fact that that happened, both of these dead and security measures -- and add to that at this suspect sat in seat 19a, right above the fuel tank of the airplane. do flight rules have enough training to know something like that? on this airplane, that was the seat for a terrorist?

>> i am not certain that they do. i am sure everybody understands that now, with this particular airbus, but it would be good for flight crews to know what seats and they need to watch most carefully. jamie: thank you. rate information. rick: coming up, a shocking murder on christmas eve. philip lies down down outside of the salvation army community center in little rock. how private citizens are pitching in to help police find his killer.

rick: we are back and on the hunt or two killers after a celebration army volunteer was gunned down. phillips wise -- phillip wise was killed on christmas eve as his children watch. now, an international manhunt is on for the suspects who are described as two african- american men in their late teens, early 20's, believed to be armed with a handgun. anyone with information is asked to call the little rock police department. there is a $3,000 reward to any information leading to an arrest. jamie: anti-government rallies have been turning deadly in the

iran. eight people have died in the fighting between protesters and security forces. one of them was the nephew of the opposition leader, and now his brother said that his body has been removed from the hospital without the family's permission. possibly, it was done by authorities hoping to avoid more protests around his funeral. john bolton is with me now. we have watched these protests before, and generally they escalate. as they do, we get your pictures and few were information. what do we know? >> the government wants to prevent foreign media from covering this, trying to restrict outside information as much as they can, in part to

prevent communication between the dissidents in iran. that is good evidence for the fact that these demonstrations are very widespread, the government is quite concerned. jamie: you want to make the point, i think, that the government is still unpopular after the election. what should the world be doing about that? >> the fact that the opposition has maintained its coherence demonstrates how profoundly they are looking at the regime. there is any indication that they have begun to from command. i think the international community needs to be more than just give rhetorical support to the opposition. i think we need to give them

tangible support. i wish we had done more in the last 10 years, finance, communications, to give them a real opportunity to given them what the people want. jamie: what do you make of this report of the mousavi's relatives body after he was slain purportedly being missing? >> i think that is consistent with the idea that the government is trying to prevent examples of funerals where people could rally around. this is further amplified by the arrests that were undertaken by dissident advisers. i think they are working their way up, actually, to arresting him. it shows -- nobody should underestimate the determination and brutality of this regime to stay in power.

jamie: ambassador, thank you for taking us inside the conflict. rick: we would like to hear from you about this story. foxnews.com. we are asking if the u.s. should help the iranian dissidents. select your answer. yes, no, or maybe you can also see how others have voted. when we come back, we expect president obama to make his first public statement on the attempted plane attack. we will go to hawaii where the first family is on vacation. and the nation's airports

tightening security. we will check in on one major airports to see how travelers are handling it.

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rick: welcome back. there is news about the suspect in the failed terror attack. the suspect is supposed to be in federal court in detroit. phil keating is at the

courthouse. what happened today hearing? >> the hearing has been postponed until january 8, that is when the suspect is good but to have a detention hearing where bonds will be set for the ninth. prosecutors had wanted a u.s. district judge to obtain a dna sample from the suspect. public defenders here were expected to make a legal argument to deny that. meanwhile, the terror suspect remained locked up, charged with trying to destroy aircraft and trying to bring a destructive device on an aircraft. rick: in israel, the country is responding to a once-secret iran nuclear power plant. >> ehud barak says a military

strike would be close to impossible because the site is located inside of a bunker that is resistant to ponds. he also says iran could have the technology next year to make a bomb but will not be able to build until the following year. rick: thank you. that is your news whip. jamie: president obama is expected to make his first comments on the aborted plan intact this afternoon. the president and first family are still in hawaii. steve centanni is with us from honolulu. what do we expect the president to say? >> no doubt he will be. the importance of airline safety security, making sure the system is working properly. he will give the state and around 3:00 eastern time, which

is 10:00 a.m. here. they will be making a statement from the marine base, not far from where he has been spending his vacation. this morning he went to the gym at the marine base, which he always does, and then went to play some racketball with the first lady. last night they went to a restaurant with some friends. that is the first picture that we have seen of the president. meanwhile, debt napolitano has been trying to clarify what she said yesterday -- janet napolitano has been trying to clarify what she said yesterday, that the system did not work. today she is backtracking and trying to clarify. >> once the incident occurred, we were able to notify the flights in the air.

we were able to immediately implement new cautioned that domestic airports, internationally working with air carriers, and we were able to provide additional security for the traveling public. >> she says what happened after the attack went smoothly, but obviously, the system did not mark because it did not catch this guy. a lot of critics say that he was on a watch list and should have been a red flag. he was denied a visa, his father warned the u.s. embassy in nigeria -- all of this should have resulted in at least a pat down. many congressmembers are expressing those concerns. jamie: thank you.

rick: airports around the country and world are tightening security reacting to the christmas day care -- scare. now airport lines that were already long from the holidays are even longer. we are live at dallas-fort worth international airport. how is everything going? >> right now, things are moving pretty smoothly. those safeguards are in effect for aircraft already but there were concerns about long lines at the security checkpoints. you can see for yourself, no weight at all. that was not the case this morning when we had a way around 8:00 that easily extended beyond that court and off area

-- cordened-off area. definitely, no, we are seeing a visual increase in security. we had a chance to speak with some passengers who were waiting in line, and the sentiment seems to be that as long as it takes what it is to be safe. others like more clarification but they say it will not deter them from flying. if it keeps people say, that is what they are four, but what other option do they have? we spoke to one lady saying that it is not the same as driving from los angeles to dallas. rick: thank you. with me now is a former tsa administrator.

as we just heard, folks are willing to put up with this as long as they believe is going to keep us safe. based on what you have heard so far, these new rules, regulations, are they doing that? >> certainly, there is an additional adrenaline rush where everyone stepped it up in terms of intent to date. the new measures will be noticeable mostly in the fled when asked you to sastay seated. the checkpoint process should be very much the same. the key will be next month, three months from now, when the adrenaline has passed, how we sustain that high level of vigilance. rick: we have seen rules put in place that are only to be changed or that did after a certain time has passed,

although we are still taking off our shoes. what kind of permanent rules would you like to see in place? >> i think the protocol has to be very flexible, more trace detection, perhaps k-9 at the boarding gate area. i know tsa now has thousands and thousands of be a protection officers around the country sometimes they will have uniformed officers at the arrival gate area, and then the behavior people will see how they respond to the officers. so there are a lot of things happening that passengers do not see. air marshals are throughout the airport. the key is to come up with security measures where you can -- that you can sustain over the long haul. rick: we were showing some of

these full body scans, which are a concern to a lot of people because of privacy concerns, but something like that would have spotted the material that was sewn into the underwear of abdulmutallab. where are we in terms of getting the full body scanners in airports across the country and overseas? >> they passed the technical hurdles, we have the money, and i thing there was a house vote in june that put a chill into the deployment. i think we need to address those concerns so that we can put those machines out. it is a good point about whether you use them in primary screeningo or only for the people that set off an alarm.

all you do is take the metal out of your pockets and you will never have to go through that imager. rick: thank you for joining us. jamie: the next step for health care reform getting both houses of congress to reconcile their differences, and there are several major ones. so why are house democrats indicating they are ok with ditching public option?

rick: it is the next battle and health care reform, hammering out the differences between house and senate versions. one of the big distinctions is whether to include a public

insurance option. that was left out of the senate option, but some of the house possibly been -- leading democrats say they would be ok with leaving it out. >> basically, we want to create more choices, more competition for companies, and to contain costs. if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, and then i am all for it. whether we label it a public option or not is of no consequence. bret: meantime, chris van hollen of maryland says the public option is not dead. >> before the house was to give up the public option, we would need to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in other bill that would keep down premiums. we have to make sure that

insurance remains affordable. rick: the former spokesperson for john kerry's campaign is with me. we also have a former deputy assistant to former president bush. listening to the two lawmakers, you can tell what a difficult issue this is. this public option was a dream for so many liberals in washington. is it a goner? >> i think what we have here is a situation where we have two different bills passed by the senate and house, and democrats are unified in their willingness to get something done on health care reform. on the house side, they are looking at a senate with a difficult threshold of 60 votes to get to. they have something that can control costs and improve care,

and maybe that is something be can accept. rick: even though it does not have what some democratic lawmakers want. i guess this is political realism plane out. brad, once this process has played out and they are able to reconcile these two bills, do you believe the democrats will continue to bring about a single payer system in the country? >> absolutely. it is a foot in the door to the eventual public option. they have been trying to do this for over 30 years since the creation of medicare and medicaid this is a natural progression of the democrats. our mission as republicans is to stop this bill. we should not be ashamed about that. this is terrible for america.

america cannot afford this type of boondoggle of government spending at a time when we have a tremendous unemployment problem -- over 10% nationally, 17% in the inner cities. rick: meanwhile, david, we are looking at this debate going on and it is not between democrats and republicans but members of your own party. how crazy is it that there is in fighting in your own party? >> what is interesting about the things that brat outlined in his answer was that the republican party's mission is just to say no. that is what we hear on everything. job creation, stimulus. >> we are in the minority. >> you are going to be in the minority for a long time.

you talk about socialized medicine. was it not a year and a half ago that president bush put medicare bills back on the agenda in 2003? >> david, the american people want to fix the system, they do not want the system expanded to bring the incompetence of medicaid to the entire nation. we all agree that medicaid is broken. >> you had eight years to fix it and you did nothing. rick: thank you both so much. jamie: we are going to give you a prepaid transit card to get around town. that is something that big corporations are giving to their employees. now they are finding out that there are no free rides. how the card could be turning

their boss into big brother. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

rick: some of those rules that were put in place after the failed attack on that northwest jet christmas day, rules about getting up from your seat -- not being able to get up one hour before the airplane lands, what you can and cannot keep on your lap/ . those two rules, according to the ap, have been eased. at the captain's discretion, people will be allowed to wander about the cabin, have a blanket in their lap, if they care to.

why this would be made public, i am not quite sure. jamie: meanwhile, major privacy concerns a merger in washington state. there are many residents who use prepaid orca cards to travel on mass transportation, and in some cases, they get them at a discount if they are purchased through their employer. it is coming to light that the cards keep record of where you have been, and your boss can use it to keep tabs, and in some cases, punish you. dan spear is in washington predicts bernard is in washington. -- springer is in washington. >> many washington employees have these or, cards, and why wouldn't they?

it saves them all lot of money. there is a downside, privacy. your boss can track your move and every time you use the card. the time and location goes into a database which the employer has access to. the city even warns applicants that information gathered can lead to them being disciplined. >> i liken it a little bit to the computer that you use. it is a piece of equipment given to you by the employer in order to do your job. it is the same thing with this card. >> things that we do on our own time is not our employer's business. to me, that is private information. >> city employees say that the orca part is less like the

computer your employer would give you, but health benefits, a perk that they give you as a benefit but do not track. jamie: thank you. interesting story. rick: we thought we would like new things up a little bit and remember what it was like to be a kid on winter break. these kids in illinois taking fuller advantage of the snowfall. they got about half a foot of fresh snow in the area. meantime, in our area, the snow is all gone. my 3-year-old is so confused. jamie: you know where there is no snow? in hawaii. that is where president obama is, and he is set to make comments on that airplane attack. and the latest into this man, accused of trying to take down

an airplane. we will go to the courthouse in detroit for a live update on a hearing that took place today. to other people, then don't bother watching this commercial. i've taken precautions all my life to protect my identity. i've been in law enforcement all my life... and my identity was stolen. did you know that identity theft has topped... the federal trade commission's list of consumer complaints... for the last eight years? it's a serious problem for anyone with a social security number.

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and the nigerian man -- mugshot to show you. the nigerian man who tried to blow up a trans-atlantic fare plan. phil keating is outside of the detroit courtroom. why do prosecutors want to get the dna sample? >> one prominent attorney tells me that it would seal the deal. if you can make any connection between the suspect in anything that was left in that seat. remember, abdulmutallab set himself on fire, and is being treated for second-degree burns, so there may be some remnants of his dna. there are dozens of witnesses who were sitting around him as well. regardless, the motion was

canceled, according to the u.s. prosecutor's office of michigan. however, there will be another detention hearing on january 8 where a judge will determine whether or not to set bond. prosecutors say that he is a flight risk and if he is free on bond, he could be deported. rick: i have read that the fire in his lap burned for about one minute. is anybody saying why this device failed to detonate? >> apparently it had something to do with the designation cord. he had about 80 grams of a highly explosive powder called petn. it is the same highly explosive power that the shoe bomber, richard reid, was wearing in 2001 when he attempted to blow

up an airplane. investigators took a test on the amount of petn in that case t, d he was believed to have had less than what i'm -- abdulmutallab had. very scary. this have -- this could have been an incredible christmas day disaster. rick: what is going on with janet napolitano? she was on a lot of the sunday shows yester day, and she had to go back on today, granting news organizations and interviews, backtracking on her statement. >> initially, she said that the crew and passengers were all doing what they had to do, but today she did can see that yes,

airline security measures did fail. somehow, the suspect was able to get on board in amsterdam with this highly explosive power hit and in his underpants. so she says -- janet napolitano -- says that many investigations are underway. why was this individual not on a no-fly list, and how did he get on the airplane? rick: thank you. jamie: when this suspect's hearing takes place, what kind of, can we expect? why would they want dna? one of the reasons may be not only to see his dna -- perhaps he had some co-conspirators dna

as well on the device. with me now is someone who has reviewed all the facts of the case. how important is this element of the case? >> it also up in the case against him. they will not have to rely on eyewitness testimony. they will have the actual dna. the second aspect is also that he may have been involved in another attack, some sort of bomb-making where they have evidence -- hair samples, for example. through that, they may be able to link him to different events. if they can confront him with that information, perhaps they can get information from him about potential attacks down the road. jamie: how to you --

>> if there is a chain of custody issues, you have to look for the little minutia. it is difficult to defend against this type of case. if he wants to use it as propaganda come as will probably be done in the 9/11 trials, he will go forward. the reality is a lot of these types of cases plea out. he made a plea to what they have charged him with so far, trying to blow up an airplane. it would have to be a hefty charge, and they are likely to add more charges. jamie: we are talking about a federal court. we have heard the debate in past cases, military tribunals compared to civilian courts. this was not such a question in

this incident, but there iis thy possibility that they may try to put this in the public domain? >> there could be information that he makes which could be valuable. apparently he has been doing some talking about his connections to al qaeda, and so on. so there are working on that information. jamie: if the reports are true, that his father reported he was concerned about his activity, would those statements the admissible in this case? >> that would normally be seen as hearsay. and they may bring him in to testify, although they do not have subpoena power in nigeria. there could be a deal where he agreed to come over to testify. it seems it was willing to turn his son in before this. having seen this, it sounds like

he is a good person willing to do the right thing. jamie: thank you for coming in, and read. rick: -- ann marie. rick: u.s. authorities to increase security at airports across the country and the british police searched the apartment in london where the suspect lived. there he is, look how young he looks. the son of a prominent nigerian banker. so how did he end up allegedly working with al qaeda? catherine herridge is in washington with more. let us talk about this believe connection between abdulmutallab and the country of yemen. >> sources have confirmed to us that he did travel to yemen earlier this year or late last year.

analysts independent may say that the trip was significant. >> he has been medicalize before. there is a network in yemen to radicalizes these people on line -- online. >> sources tell us that he was vetted for the mission, and we are now being told that it is likely he obtained a bomb-making materials in yemen. rick: i know your sources tell you that this is one of the key pieces of the story, this apparent time between the suspect and anwar al-awlaki. we have been talking about him ever since the mass shooting in texas. tell us about that. >> sources confirmed that he was

a follower of anwar al-awlaki. when traffic shows that he read his blog. we are told that there was no hard evidence of a direct connection, but he is being seen as a rising star in global a jihad. >> according to chat rooms and other information, he is seen as sort of an expert on america. of course, he still has connections within the u.s., west, and he is a guy that is planning -- at least on a theoretical level, another operation. >> this group in yemen has been active for about five years. one of the central figures in this group is anwar al-awlaki. he is the same one who had e-

mail correspondence with nidal hasan. there is significant that we have had two cases in two months involving the u.s. and some type of contact with these individuals and as radical cleric. rick: interesting to see the transformation of al qaeda since 911 and how there are so many different factions of the group. this organization somewhat from that group, being quoted by the a.p., saying that they are responsible for that attack on christmas day. are your sources able to confirm or comment on any of this? >> we have been anticipating some sort of their web posting on the jihadist forums. in any event, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula may not be a household name to most americans, but it has been

around for a long time and has been involved in a number of high-profile attacks. the most noteworthy previous to this was an attempted assassination of a suicide bomber of this saudi prince. in this particular attack, the suicide bomber traveled from yemen to saudi arabia, and interested in explosives in a condom into his gut and used a cell phone to trigger the explosive. it is interesting to line of these two types of attacks. rick: catherine herridge, thank you. jamie: meanwhile, anti-permit protests turn deadly in iran. as you can see, demonstrators are taking to the streets, breaking batons and tear gas.

what sparked the new round of clashes? and a string of fires claiming the lives of two people. what investigators are doing to stop the deadly arson fires.

rick: this is a fox news alert. we touched on this a moment ago, but a regional wing of al qaeda in the arabian'peninsula is now claiming responsibility for that attack on christmas day. they posted something on the internet web site. the statement says that they are the possible, that they provided the nigerian suspect with a technically advanced device but it failed to detonate because of a technical fault. the group that buys a suspect

and said that it was a response to u.s. attacks on the groups in yemen. joining me now is a member of of congress, a new jersey congressman. we have this news from the regional wing of al qaeda, your response? >> we do not know if this is authentic or not. i have total confidence in the national security council. i spoke to them this morning. they are going to gather all the information that is in the system about this guy. it would not surprise me if he was connected with al qaeda. it only reinforces what needs to be done, and the full weight of the war should be placed against this individual whether

he is with al qaeda or not is secondary to the fact that he put lives in jeopardy. the criminal complaint has to be almost seamless to get this guy, and i've won him prosecuted to the full extent. as far as i'm concerned, he could have put a gun to eight policemen. whether or not he hit the officer or not, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. rick: we will be hearing from the president in about 45 minutes. we are starting to get some clues to what he will talk about something we expect him to say is that the u.s. must keep the pressure on these groups that would like to do harm to americans. what does that entail?

what would you like to see the response be to something like that? >> we have had hearings in homeland security, whether they're republicans or democrats are in majority, most of us work in a non-partisan manner. what we believe it is there needs to be a list in which people can understand, and their need to be communication between the different levels of intelligence in our country so that one knows what the other is doing. one problem we have in government is it is such a huge bureaucracy, one hand does not know what the other is doing. remember one thing, rick, this is critical. some critics of the president in the last few days have been hypocritical.

we do not even have a director of tsa because it is being held up by senator demint. the very committee we are talking about does not have a lead. that needs to be done asap. rick: this administration has discouraged the use of the phrase "war on terror." i do you think the president may start using it? >> i use it. i think the president is very sensitive to what is going on and the people he places in high positions -- just look at the cia, fbi. they are good, strong people who have support of the agency. i have my own concerns about the security situation. i am not satisfied with the responses we have gotten in committee.

i think that you are going to see some action on that in the future. rick: the full body scanners that perhaps would have detected these explosive devices, but are not so widely used because of privacy concerns, can we now throw in that debate out the window? >> this is just the kind of tradition that we may need to go further. we need to balance privacy in the u.s. but the way the system is set up, as i understand it, there are 19 airports in the country that have this sophisticated equipment. that equipment would have certainly been able to find this petn, which was sewn into his underwear. i think god the detonator did not go off, and thank god we had a brief passenger and crew. i think we are born to move to

another level now. i agree with the secretary, secretary napolitano. we cannot have had the protocol be the same at every airport. there will be people who try to beat the system. i think you know what i am trying to say. we need to have something that is unpredictable. we are talking about a situation -- this is how i look about it. rick: real quickly. >> we are looking at a war of ideas. we can win this war. the fact is, they are the infidels. the people who perpetuated 9/11, is people like the shoe bomber, this person. they are infidels. there's no place in the koran that gives people safety who

tried to kill the other. -- to kill others. these people are not religious. we can win the battle of ideas if we find that as strongly as we do in protecting americans. these folks better know that we have military action. rick: thanks. jamie: eight people dead in the streets of tehran. anti-government protests turning violent as the government crackdown on opposition protesters. ugcl) yeacl 's h fba icos y!tyft

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rick: afinally in connection with al qaeda. at least, a claim. one group claiming responsibility for that attack on the northwest jet caho. according to the website of the organization, they provided the nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab with the explosive device. they say is retaliation for a u.s. operation against their group in the yemen. yemenis forces, in coordination with u.s. forces, conducting some operations on the ground this month. the second attack was just days before this attempted attack. we are getting ready to hear from president obama who will be

making his first remarks about this when he speaks from hawaii. that is expected to be in a little more than half an hour. jamie: we have with us michael baker, a former cia covert. thank you for coming in. what do you make of this claim of responsibility? >> i believe it. there is enough of a track record in terms of yemen involvement and training. also, in terms of the information adding up. it looks like abdulmutallab -- he started to talk immediately when he was picked up. jamie: was that part of the instructions that he received? >> no, the conversations, the

things that he has been saying -- it seems that he was increasingly radicalized through contacts in britain, as well as yemen, and is shifting -- and interestingly enough, anwar al- awlaki, who was in contact with nidal hasan. jamie: how concerned are will -- should we be about these al qaeda leaders training? we are hearing that he was hand- picked for this assignment. how easy is it for someone to go this route? for you and me, pretty hard. he fits the mold. al qaeda goes through a similar, in berdache looking process monday train people. -- when they train people. they would have gone through may

a vetting process. jamie: yemen is a play for we need to pay attention to in regards to a hot bed of terrorist activity. we know that in guantanamo and there are many detainee's left that could be released back to yemen. does that call a halt -- does that put a halt in the plant to close it? >> i hope so. yemen has played a role in counterterrorism operations for a long time. we have worked with the yemeni government in the past. but it is a very disturbing place, the exact type of place that al qaeda looks for. it is unstable, insurgency to the south and north, the poorest

country in the arab world. that feed their environment, what they need to set up a base of operations. we have seen this in the past, but it is increasing now. saudi arabia, pakistan, and others, have been taken in the fight to the militants, and now they are going elsewhere. jamie: as a covert expert -- operations expert, what kind of operation do we have on the ground, do we need more resources? >> in the yemeni government works with us when it is in the best interest, not unlike other nations. right now they are receiving pressure from saudis and others in their area, and we're getting better intelligence. it can always improve. frankly, our ability to gather

intelligence on al qaeda head depends very heavily on our liaison services. it is so difficult as an organization for us to penetrate directly. jamie: how many more do you think are in training for a tax like this? >> we do not want to narrowly defined them. this is a much bigger ideology. unfortunately, they have a deep well for recruits. jamie: an ideology that we must begin to understand more. rick: thank you. how the christmas day bomb plot could affect the plan to close guantanamo bay. gested. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe freer, so i can love the air™. (announcer) zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

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rick: this is a fox news alert. there is a claim of responsibility for the failed plot against and that northwest and jetliner on christmas day. a p reporting that al qaeda provided the suspect with the bombing materials which he attempted to use in that failed attack. the organization posting, saying that this was in retaliation for recent attacks coordinated between the u.s. and yemeni

government against al qaeda in the country of yemen. the president is expected to talk about this. his first public statements since the failed attack. he will be speaking with hawaii, where he has been on vacation with his family, and about half an hour. we are also told that the president will talk about the need to put continued pressure on those who want to do harm to the u.s. and that the american people, and that the american -- that the president believes we should learn from the attack. perhaps a new game plan is needed in his plan to close guantanamo bay? a lot of this putting attention on his decision. the president is expected -- a prison is expected to be shutdown some time shortly after this year.

fbi investigators understand that he received training in yemen. fresh ammo for those who do not like the president's policy when it comes to guantanamo bay. wendell goler is in washington. so who is indicating that the attempted attack should impact efforts to close guantanamo? >> 4for one, peter hoekstra. he said he may try to use this to delay the president's plans. mr. obama had hoped to do so by the end of the month, but now it appears that those plans, even well before the attack -- the attempted attack -- is on hold, and it may not be until 2011 that they are able to close guantanamo bay. he said that emf -- yemen could be one of the worst countries to send them to.

it has one of the weakest governments and is poor, which makes it an easy place to recruit. if we do not act preemptively, yemen could prove into future military plans. >> someone said to me in the capital of yemen, iraq was yesterday's war, afghanistan is today's war. if we do not act preemptively, yemen will be tomorrow's war. >> lieberman said that the u.s. already has a military presence in yemen. of course, we have today's claim from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula that the christmas day bombing was in response to actions against al qaeda in yemen. rick: are we not already sending some of the detainees from yemen back to the country? >> in fact, it is one of the

places that the bush administration began sending detainees back to. that practice continued up until this month when the obama administration said that they would send more back. yemen make up pretty much close half of the detainees in gitmo. about one-third have been cleared for release. the problem is the yemeni government cannot seem to keep them locked up. of the eight convicted of being involved in the bombing of the cole in 2000, all released by the government or managed to escape from jail. the amending government has its hands full fighting rebels in the north, separatists in the south, as well as al qaeda. now you have al qaeda in yemen and saudi arabia merging to form a al qaeda of the arabian peninsula. rick: wendell goler, thank you.

jamie: as we await the president's first reaction to what happened on christmas day on that northwest flight, we also get a report of a claim that al qaeda is claimed responsibility. catherine herridge is watching the news. >> just a few minutes ago i spoke with memory, one of the well-respected monitoring groups here in washington. they spend a lot of their time on jihadist website and they confirmed to me that a statement had gone up on a known jihadist website. right now they are busy translating it. we should expect an image soon. typically there is an image and then a statement. for some context, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is a group that has been well followed by counterterrorism analysts and officials. they have been responsible for a number of tax inside the

country, and more specifically, in saudi arabia. the one attack seen as a threshold attack, where they show that they had real support, growing confidence in this attempted assassination on a saudi prince earlier this year. i mentioned an operative being sent to yemen who had explosive that he had swallowed in a condom. the plan was to detonate it with a text messaging debt -- mechanism. the second thing about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, one reason it has been more prominent is because of anwar al-awlaki. he was born in mexico, quite a central figure in the 9/11 attacks. he was an imam in san francisco as well as virginia. after 9/11, he fled the united states. in recent years he has become

what counterterrorism officials have described to me, as something of a rock star. he has been described as the dear abby for people in this line of thinking. he is a spiritual adviser and until recently had an active website and blog, and is a very charismatic western face. officials tell me that he is the new face are merging of global jihad, not only because he is american, but he speaks english, he understands the west, and is proficient in terms of the technology. when you bring that together, this american deer head in a group which has been active for about five years, there is a lethal mix of elements, together which has really put al qaeda in the arabian peninsula on the map for many analysts. jamie: i am curious how well-

founded and organized and there are, and if any connection was made to that group and to this nigerian? >> what we know from the reporting is that this nigerian suspect, umar farouk abdulmutallab, traveled to yemen late last year, early this year. several weeks, if not months. it was a significant amount of time. earlier we are able to confirm that it was increasingly likely that he got the materials for the device in yemen. earlier today we also had information that while he was in yemen, he was already radicalized and was looking for trouble. he was vetted in yemen for this particular mission. we have not seen a statement from al qaeda in the arabian

peninsula, but they are claiming to take credit for the attack and some of the information in touch -- is dovetailing from what we have heard from officials here. jamie: historically, how many would-be vetted at a time, and are on board is keeping a close watch on that as well as other countries that could be involved in this such as the u.k., amsterdam, nigeria, to see if there could have been others that went through this process in this timeframe? >> it is impossible to say how many people may have been vetted in a group. we confirmed a short time ago that the 23-year-old suspect told the fbi that there were more like him in the pipeline. recently, there has been a posting on one of these jihadist forums that was brought to my attention.

anwar al-awlaki had been meeting with young recruits and advising them spiritually. is that consistent with what we have seen here? it is hard to say, but that is the image they are trying to portray. thirdly, we know from our reporting there is a real emphasis not only on his time in yemen, but also his time in other european countries. one of the central questions is how he became radicalized. jamie: do we have more information on that? do we think it may have happened in england, nigeria? do we know if he had been in the u.s. before? >> i do not have information on that either. jamie: great information, thank you. bret: so the pieces of the puzzle seemingly coming together with this claim of

responsibility that we are working hard to independently confirmed. we are moments away from president obama's first public statements. we will all have it for you, as well as analysis.

rick: this is a fox news alert. there is the podium in hawaii where president obama will be making his first public statements since this failed terror attack on christmas day. the president and his family on vacation in hawaii. he will speak from a marine corps base their about 45 minutes from now, from waikiki beach. they are getting things set. getting ready for the president's remarks which are set to take place around 3:00.

we know that the president was speaking about this. he will also talk about some of the other things being done in order to protect americans who may be traveling over the holiday season. we are told he will also be talking about some of the un rest going on in iran. big news coming from there again where security forces are resting opposition forceprotest. this is the biggest rally in months and at least eight people have been killed. some of these pictures are horrifying, showing some of the bloodiest clashes since the presidential election. some say the police are firing tear gas into the crowd. we are on the ground in iran. amy kellog, who has traveled to that. many times in the past is with us.

what is the iranian regime saying about what is going on on the ground? >> according to my sources, it is unusual that the iranian state television has been showing pictures of the demonstrations. they do not normally do that, but my source tells me that the way that they were shown was to show pro-western hooligans. showing certain protesters -- women with head start falling off, men -- headscarves falling off, men wearing ties. i'd think the regime is trying to spend it its own way, knowing that they cannot control them anymore. we know at least 15 people were killed. we do not know exactly how they died, but one report that came

out -- one doctor said that he operated on 17 patients with gunshot wounds. rick: these pictures look strikingly similar to those that we saw back in in june after the disputed elections, and eventually claimed by had not been done. -- ahmadinejad. what is motivating the opposition supporters to come out and protest as strenuously as they are now? >> each time there is bloodshed, it feels the protesters. it is difficult for us to verify what is going on on the ground because of the heavy restrictions on reporting their, but there have been pictures circulating supposedly that of mayor hussein mousavi, and opposition leader's on getting killed us today. that is another potential

flashpoint as the days and told. a possible funeral down the road could bring another rally. rick: thank you. jamie: we are going to hear from the president about the christmas eve attacks on a northwest -- . .

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jamie: we are about to hear from president obama. for the first time, we will get his reaction to the terror attack on christmas day. the thwarted attack. we know that the suspect was on one of terror suspect list but not on the no-flight list, and the president ordered a review of both. we expected we have to keep the

pressure up. all of this is a claim of responsibility reported today. rick: the president says we must learn some lessons from this failed plot against the united states. he will also talk about keeping pressure on countries that would like to do us harm and to make sure that this kind of saying is not allowed to happen again. this is something that a lot of people have been very curious about ever since this attack at the end, august 23-year-old young man, where there was so many red flags and so many warnings -- this was not a complete stranger to u.s. officials. they had been watching him for quite some time. how could this possibly happen? the president will have to address that as well. jamie: and the need to connect the dots in situations like this where there is information about certain terror suspects. the president coming up moments away. you want to keep it right here on fox and foxnews.com.

"studio b" is next. thank you for being with us.

rick: president obama, moments from now. "studio b" starts right now. gregg: this is "studio b." any moment now president obama is expected to make a statement on the attended a christmas day terrorist bombing which could have killed hundreds of people on board the passenger plane bound for detroit. the associated press reporting

al qaeda's -- all week in the arabian peninsula claiming responsibility. as you probably know by now, the feds say this man, umar abdulmatallab, tried to detonate an explosive device while sitting in his seat on northwest airlines flight 253. u.s. marshals in the trade tell us the mug shot was taken yesterday. but the bomb did not go off properly. he was badly burned and detained by quick thinking passengers on board as well as crewmembers. we're told the suspects boarded an airplane in his home country of nigeria, flew to amsterdam in the netherlands, and later transferred to the detroit-bound flight. investigators say the suspect went through a number of security screenings in route, but the explosive is somehow went undetected. the man who is now in federal prison in michigan was reportedly carrying in of the bomb material to blow a hole right through the side of the plane. now president obama has ordered a number of